Scot In A Trap

WINNER OF THE 2023 ANTHONY AWARD FOR BEST HUMOROUS NOVEL In this darkly funny mystery Lexy Campbell's first love turns up dead at the Last Ditch Motel on Thanksgiving . . . and she becomes the prime suspect! A mysterious object the size of a suitcase, all wrapped in bacon and smelling of syrup, can mean only one thing: Thanksgiving at the Last Ditch Motel. This year the motel residents are in extra-celebratory mood as the holiday brings a new arrival to the group - a bouncing baby girl. But as one life enters the Ditch, another leaves it. Menzies Lassiter has only just checked in. When resident counsellor Lexy Campbell tries to deliver his breakfast the next day, she finds him checked out. Permanently. Shocking enough if he was a stranger, but Lexy recognises that face. Menzies was her first love until he broke her heart many years ago. What's he doing at the Last Ditch? What's he doing dead? And how can Lexy escape the fact that she alone had the means, the opportunity - and certainly the motive - to kill him?

Lexy Campbell fights to prove the innocence of a client she's been providing marriage guidance to after she is accused of murdering her husband. It's the Fourth of July in California and Lexy Campbell is headed home to Scotland. But first she must deliver her final dose of marriage guidance to the elderly Bombarros. They don't turn up for the session, but the cops do. Turns out Mr Bombarro is in the morgue and Mrs Bombarro is in the jail, arrested for murder. Certain of the old lady's innocence, Lexy decides to stay and clear her name. But after her own recent whirlwind divorce, she's got no money and no place to stay. So she checks into the Last Ditch Motel. As the plucky little band of motel guests start to take over Lexy's life, and the shady Bombarro relations come to town, one thing is for sure . . . the fireworks have only just begun.

Despite efforts to create a safe environment to see out the pandemic, the residents of the Last Ditch Motel face more dangers than they imagined possible in this hilarious yet claustrophobic mystery. March 2020 and Operation Cocker is a go! The owners of the Last Ditch Motel, with a little help from their friend Lexy Campbell, are preparing to support one another through the oncoming lockdown, offering the motel's spare rooms to a select few from the local area in need of sanctuary. While the newbies are settling in, an ambiguous banner appears demanding one of them return home. But who is it for? Lexy and her friends put a plan into action to ward off the perpetrator, but the very next night, a resident disappears and a message scrawled in human blood is found. As California shuts down, the Last Ditchers make another gruesome discovery. They tried to create a haven but now it seems as if everyone's in danger. Is the motel under attack from someone on the outside? Scary as that is, the alternative is worse by far.

Winner of the 2020 Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery Scottish-born California transplant Lexy Campbell sails into trouble when her houseboat party ends on a deadly note. Now settled in her little houseboat, moored in the slough at the back of the Last Ditch Motel, Lexy Campbell wants nothing more than to build her counseling business, avoid her mother's phone calls and—who knows?—meet a nice guy. But when she throws a Halloween party for her motley crew of motel pals, the only single man is too old for her, too wrapped up in the case of beer chilling in the slough, and—oh, yes—too dead. The sensible choice is to leave it up to the cops to identify the body and catch the killer. So faster than you can say "Tam O'Shanter," Lexy and her friends jump into the case themselves, delving deep into their town's past for the roots of a mystifying crime. Praise for Scot & Soda "Peppered with clever red herrings, the mystery gleefully revels in the absurd, but it's Lexy's friendships with the Last Ditch's unusual residents that give this series its big heart. Those who enjoy the Stephanie Plum mysteries will find plenty to like."—Publishers Weekly Praise for Scot Free, Book 1 of the Last Ditch Mystery Series: A 2019 Lefty Award Nominee "[McPherson's] character-driven romp is sparked by the larger-than-life, quirky residents of the Last Ditch Motel, putting this laugh-out-loud whodunit on a par with the early Janet Evanovich."—Library Journal (starred review) "McPherson, a master of creepy psychological mysteries, shows an utterly different side of herself in this zany series kickoff."—Kirkus Reviews "McPherson gives the fish-out-of-water theme a hilarious and original spin with Lexy Campbell, a Scottish therapist who falls for and marries a sexy California dentist who turns out to be more horndog than hero. Throw in a sweet old lady accused of blowing up her pyrotechnic husband and a hilariously bumbling supporting cast, and you have the perfect comic caper. Lexy is my new favorite unwitting detective and her cultural observations and mistakes are laugh-out-loud funny. Scot Free is a little sexy and a lot funny, with a heart and a bang."—Jess Lourey, Anthony and Lefty-nominated author "The only times I stopped turning the pages were when I was laughing so hard it took both hands just to hold the book. McPherson is an ace plotter, a vivid, original stylist, and great company. A great beginning to a new series."—Timothy Hallinan, author of the Junior Bender series "Everyone who knows me knows that I don't throw the word 'hoot' around lightly. So if I were to say that Catriona McPherson's new novel was a hoot, believe me, I would mean it. Filled with an entertaining cast of eccentric characters, Scot Free is a funny and original mystery. Quite frankly, it's a hoot. There, I said it."—Johnny Shaw, author of Big Maria and Imperial Valley "Lexy's snide observations about the California lifestyle can't cover up her affection for her friends, who are as warm-hearted as they are weird. Readers will look forward to Lexy's further adventures."—Publishers Weekly "McPherson, who has earned acclaim for her dark thrillers and Dandy Gilver period cozies, blends jaunty pacing, a comically rendered Southern California setting, and quirky characters in this series starter. A sure bet for fans of Janet Evanovich and Sarah Strohmeyer."—Booklist

Lexy Campbell’s ex-husband begs for her help finding his current wife, whose disappearance mirrors that of a number of statues around California – menacing ransom note and all. A community is devastated when the bronze statue of local legend Mama Cuento is stolen on Valentine’s Day. When Lexy Campbell arrives on the scene, a big bronze toe is found along with a ransom note – “Listen to our demands or you will never see her again. There are nine more where this came from”. Then, Lexy’s ex-husband Bran turns up begging for help to find his wife, Brandee, who has disappeared. Lexy agrees to pitch in, but when she shows up at Bran’s house he has just discovered one of Brandee’s false nails and another ransom note with the same grisly message. Are the two cases linked or is a copycat on the loose? Who would want to kidnap a bronze statue or, come to that, Brandee? And can Lexy put aside her hatred for Bran long enough to find out?

A Scot's dialect dictionary, comprising the words in use from the latter part of the seventeenth century to the present day

This book provides a thorough yet approachable history of the Scots language, a close relative of Standard English with around 1.5 million speakers in Scotland and several thousand in Ireland, according to the 2011 census. Despite the long history of Scots as a language of high literature, it has been somewhat neglected and has often been treated as a dialect of Standard English. In this book, Robert McColl Millar explores both sociolinguistic and structural developments in the history of Scots, bringing together these two threads of analysis to offer a better understanding of linguistic change. The first half of the book tracks the development of Scots from its beginnings to the modern period, while chapters in the second half offer detailed descriptions of Scots historical phonology and morphosyntax, and of the historical development of Scots lexis. A History of the Scots Language will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students of the modern and historical Scots language, but will also be of interest to those studying the history of English and other Germanic languages.